Helping Alleviate the Refugee Crisis

In January 2018, The Genesis Prize Foundation and its 2017 Laureate Anish Kapoor Announced Grants to Five NGOs Engaged in Alleviating the Global Refugee Crisis

Five organizations received grants from The Genesis Prize Foundation to implement projects to help alleviate the refugee crisis. The grantees are:

International Rescue Committee, who will improve community health services for refugees in northern Uganda and provide life-saving access to safe water for the Rohingya ethnic minority group in Rakhine state in Myanmar. Funds will also support the expansion into Italy of Refugee.Info, a digital platform which harnesses social media and other digital tools to ensure that refugees have access to the critical information they need to make informed decisions about their lives.

Help Refugees, who is providing life-saving winterization to five refugee camps in Greece and a refugee camp in Calais, France, including funding food and most essential winter equipment

Multifaith Alliance for Syrian Refugees, who is shipping 36 containers of aid to Syrian refugees; the contents of the first two containers under the Genesis Prize program will have a combined value of $20.7 million in medicines and medical equipment

HIAS, who is strengthening the capacity of interfaith leaders in communities across the U.S. to advocate in support of refugees

Hillel International, in collaboration with Joint Distribution Committee, which is bringing thousands of Jewish students and young adult volunteers together to assemble aid packages for 5,000 Syrian refugees

These grants come on the heels of an earlier announcement of a major grant to Ziv Hospital in northern Israel to fund hearing restoration for Syrian children brought from the neighboring conflict zone. The Ziv grant was made in partnership with Israeli philanthropist Morris Kahn.

At the time of the announcement of the grants, Anish Kapoor said: “Like many Jews, I do not have to go far back in my family history to find people who were refugees. Directing Genesis Prize funds to this cause is a way of helping people who, like my forebears not too long before them, are fleeing persecution.

“In recent months, awareness of the plight faced by tens of millions of refugees and displaced persons worldwide has fallen significantly while the refugee crisis continues unabated. I believe in a world of compassion, and am fortunate to be able to work with The Genesis Prize Foundation and the terrific NGOs receiving our grants to bring more compassion into the world.”